By Sam Boughedda
Shares of Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) and Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) dipped Wednesday after it was revealed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is set to vote on a shake-up in the structure of American equity markets.
The vote will be on progressing rule proposals related to the handling and execution of stock orders. It could be some of the biggest changes to the American equity market structure in nearly two decades, with the proposed changes aimed at boosting competition, transparency, and fairness.
The news has impacted stocks such as Virtu Financial, which is down more than 5% at the time of writing, and Robinhood, which dipped earlier in the session but is now just in the green.
The potential changes to the rules would see marketable retail stock orders sent to auctions before being executed. This is meant to be so brokers show they get the best possible executions for clients. In addition, it is hoped it will reduce trading increments and access fees on exchanges.
The SEC will also consider whether to require brokers to provide more information on customer trade quality and require more firms to file order execution reports.